Mommy bloggers and internet activism
I’ve never considered myself a mommy blogger even though I am a mommy and a blogger. Seems that all mommy bloggers are (inaccurately) lumped into one big marketing demographic. With one voice and one opinion.
The mommy bloggers were recently credited (accurately) for convincing the makers of Motrin to remove a condescending, insulting online ad from the company’s website. No small feat.
Read the story from Lisa Belkin at the New York Times.
Critics have suggested that this story exists only in the mommy blogosphere-twitterverse echo chamber, which may or may not be true. But any time media messaging can be affected by those who pay attention — those who take a moment to see advertising with a critical eye — it’s a victory for all of us demanding reform.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I never considered myself a mommy blogger either, but apparantly I am also one of the crew :-) and our voices are very powerful. This incident with Motrin is an excellent example. Also recently Disney invited a group of African American Mom Bloggers to Orlando for a weekend of focus grouping/ opinion gathering on ways that Disney could better reach out to the African American demographic. Pretty smart on their part, they got some priceless feedback from a very outspoken group …and hell, I got a free vacation away from the kiddos.
The more companies that take notice of the power of the mom blogger community, the bigger the possibilities for real change, especially with the issues that you tackle here on PEM. Great job by the way.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
The assertion that this story exists only within the mommy blogosphere is inaccurate. I first heard about this on The Consumerist.